~ Friends of Unity December 2022 Blog Hop ~

 Hello there crafty friend!

It's the first Saturday of December and you know what that means... it's time for our Friends of Unity Blog Hop!! But today is not just a regular monthly blog hop... it's our 5th Anniversary of hopping!! Can you believe that?! 5 years has gone by so fast!! We've shared so many wonderful cards and projects over the last 5 years and added so many new friends!! I'm so grateful to my friends that help make this hop amazing each month and I'm also very grateful to the friends that come and hop along with us. All your love and comments each month mean so much to us. We appreciate you all!! I'll try to keep my blog as short and sweet as possible but be sure to read to the end because there's an amazing giveaway you don't want to miss out on. First, let's get to the cue...

... Glitter & Glitz!! The perfect cue for a 5th anniversary celebration!! I had fun with this cue!

My first project is a cute tag using the Advent Calendar Day 3 stamp!! How sweet is this beautiful poinsettia! I just love it! Did you get the Advent Calendar? It's so fun opening each little door... I just love it! There's still some in stock... just saying!!!

I inked up the stamp with Candied Apple Distress Oxide ink, spritzed it with a bit of water and stamped it on a piece of Kraft card stock that I had die cut with the smallest tag die from the Make a Tag die set {looks like it's currently out of stock}. I did a mix of first and second generation stamping - which basically means that I inked up my stamp and stamped directly on the paper {first generation stamping} and without reinking the stamp, I stamped it again leaving a lighter impression of the stamp {second generation stamping}.

I used my heat tool to dry the tag. I added a bunch of white acrylic paint splatters. And then I went nuts with some Liquid Pixie Dust splatters. Just two drops on my palette with a spritz of water went a loooong way!! It's so gorgeous in person... I think you can see some of the shine on that center poinsettia. I had some of the Liquid Pixie Dust left over so I brushed some along the edge of the larger tag. I popped the smaller tag up on the larger tag with some foam tape, tied an organdy ribbon around it and cut fish tails on the ends. And then I stamped the sentiment from the Poinsettia Wishes Itty Bitty stamp... I masked it and only partially stamped the sentiment with Sugar Cube pigment ink and then heat embossed Alabaster White Embossing powder. I trimmed it and then popped it up on the tag, too. To finish off the tag, I punched a hole in the top with my Crop-a-Dile and added some twine. So pretty!

My second project is a card I made using a couple new releases from the Cyber Week Sale!! Have you guys been enjoying all the releases for Brown Thursday/Black Friday and Cyber Week?! OMG!! SO many new and amazing stamps! I want them ALL!! LOL Anywho, for this card I ink smooshed Kitsch Flamingo, Salvaged Patina and Villainous Potion Distress Oxide inks on Stampers Select White card stock from Papertrey Ink. I dried my background completely with a heat tool. I then stamped the gorgeous new snowflake clusters from the December 2022 Sentiment Kit called Shake Your Flakes with Ranger Jet Black Archival ink. And then I went nuts splattering it with some Liquid Pixie Dust. I love this stuff!!! 

I set the background aside to dry and stamped the beautiful new Angie Girl and sentiment from the Freaking Cold stamps with Black Amalgam ink from Gina K. Designs. I colored the girl up with the following Copic Markers:

Skin ~ E000, E00, E11, E04

Hair ~ E95, E97, E08, E09

Sweater ~ C00, C2, C3

Hat ~ BG0000, BG10, BG23, BG34, BG13, V000, V12, V17, C2, C3

Mug ~V000, V12, V15, V17, E21, E27

Rings / Nails ~ BG0000, BG23, BG34, C3

I fussy cut the girl leaving some of the dots and hearts around the outline. I trimmed up the sentiment so it would fit across the background. It measures about 7/8 x 4". I then adhered the bottom portion of the girl to the sentiment. I added lots of foam tape to the back of both and set them aside.

I trimmed the background to 4 x 5-1/4" and adhered it to a card front of Cool Caribbean card stock from Stampin' Up. I then adhered the panel to a white A2 top fold card base. I removed the backing from the foam tape and popped up the sentiment and girl on the card. And to finish it off I added five rhinestones to the centers of the snowflakes. I love using purples and blues for winter cards and I think it really works with this sentiment. Doesn't she look cold?! LOL

To celebrate 5 years of hopping with our friends we got to thinking that it would be fun to share our favorite card from the past five years... well, I couldn't pick just one. I had about a dozen saved. I was able to narrow it down to five which I thought was reasonable for a 5 year anniversary. So here are my five favorites in no particular order...

Furry Friends

April 2020 FOU Sketch

Black & White

Birthday

Flora & Fauna

Do you have a favorite card that I've made over the past five years?! I would love to hear which one is your favorite. Be sure to share in the comments which card has been your favorite for a chance to win a fun giveaway. I'll choose one lucky winner for this giveaway and announce the winner next month. 

Now before we get to the hopping, I chose a lucky winner from the comments on last month's hop to win a fun prize package and that lucky winner is...

... Jenni S!! Congratulations, Jenni!!

Please email me at crystalominkler@gmail.com to claim your prize. 

Prize must be claimed within two weeks. 

That's it for my cards this month! AND in addition to the giveaway I mentioned above, I'm having another giveaway!!! Woohoo!! I will be announcing the winner for both my giveaways next month for our January 2023 blog hop!!

Thank you all so much for your continued support of our little hop for these 5 fantastic years!!! I really, truly do appreciate each and every one of your sweet comments! 

A few of my friends are having giveaways on their blogs too, so be sure to hop and comment on each of our blogs!! And now the amazing giveaway that I mentioned at the beginning of my blog post... Angela has generously offered (3) $25 Unity gift cards to giveaway for our 5 year anniversary celebration!!! How amazing is that?! If you'd like a chance to win one of these gift cards be sure to hop and comment on EACH of our blogs... three winners will be randomly chosen from the comments and they could be chosen from any of the blogs participating in the hop, not just mine!! So be sure to hop and comment by December 10th!! The winners for the (3) $25 Unity gift cards will be announced here on my blog and on the Unity Show & Tell Facebook group on December 11th. On a side note, as you hop along and comment, I wanted to recommend using Google Chrome as your browser. We've been having issues for awhile now with some hoppers only being able to comment as Anonymous and if you use Google Chrome you should be able to log in and comment as you hop. If you're still only able to comment as anonymous PLEASE add your name to the comment. I will only choose winners with a name included if not signed in with a google account. I hope this helps some of you. I know that it's been very frustrating!

Let's get to the hopping...

Crystal <--- you're here

up next ---> Eileen

Amber

Dawn B.

Gaylynn

Rachel

Dawn F.

April

Joyce

Alaine

Kim

Thanks so very much for supporting our little hop!

We appreciate you!!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

{Please note that comment moderation is ON. Your comment will appear shortly.}